Themes and Motifs: Character Impotence
Description
This entry can refer both to, and beyond, the physiological to denote the inability to achieve an aim, dream or ambition. In Absalom 149.4, Sutpen provides an example; he still has the same ruthless ambition, but can no longer realize it, reduced as he is to tending his store and drinking with Wash Jones. JC
Parent Term
Sibling Terms
- Ambitious
- Amoral
- Artist
- Assertive
- Barbarism
- Bargainer
- Blackguard
- Bookishness
- Bravado
- Bravery
- Cautious
- Childlike
- Comforter
- Constitutive moment
- Conventional
- Conviction
- Courteous
- Coward
- Cruel
- Curmudgeonly
- Duty
- Fool|Foolishness
- Forbearance
- Gambler
- Generous
- Greed
- Helpless
- Honesty
- Hubris
- Humility
- Hypocrisy
- Impulsiveness
- Independence
- Indomitable
- Inexperience
- Inherited traits
- Innocence
- Integrity
- Intelligence
- Laziness
- Maturity
- Naivety
- Noisiness
- Opportunism
- Persistence
- Personality change
- Playfulness
- Popularity
- Power
- Precision
- Predatory
- Pride
- Principle
- Provincialism
- Purity
- Reactionary
- Recklessness
- Regal
- Reliability
- Reputation
- Resolve
- Responsibility
- Ruthless
- Scoundrel
- Self-deception
- Self-reliance
- Self-righteousness
- Shrewdness
- Sophistication
- stoic
- Stubborn
- Stupid
- Superhuman strength
- Swagger
- Teetotaler
- Tenderness
- Trust
- Unknowable
- Unruliness
- Vanity
- Violent
- Work ethic
Tagged Events
Cultural Issues: Alcohol›Drunkenness | Class›Disruption
Relationships: Hierarchical›Landlord-tenant
Aesthetics: Narrative›Stream of consciousness narration | Typography/Orthography›Dots
Environment: Time of Day›Noon
Themes and Motifs: Character›Impotence | Money›Disdaining money
Aesthetics: Figures of Speech›Synesthesia
Actions: Movement›Running away
Aesthetics: Allusion, Literary›Washington Irving
Environment: Domestic Space›Bathroom
Actions: Bodily›Bathing and/or personal hygiene | Bodily›Bleeding
Environment: Atmospheric›Dark | Atmospheric›Light | Atmospheric›Wetness | Auditory›Heartbeat | Auditory›Insect sounds | Auditory›Silence | Domestic Space›Bedroom | Natural›Body of water | Natural›Creek | Natural›Grass | Natural›Hills | Natural›Sand | Natural›Sky | Natural›Water moving / flowing | Olfactory›Flowers | Olfactory›Oversweet organic | Olfactory›Rain | Time of Day›Night | Weather›Warmth
Actions: Bodily›Breathing | Bodily›Dying | Bodily›Going to bed | Bodily›Heart beating | Bodily›Panting | Bodily›Sitting | Emotional›Crying | Emotional›Despair | Emotional›Hate | Emotional›Jealousy | Emotional›Longing | Emotional›Love | Emotional›Pity | Emotional›Self-consciousness | Emotional›Shame | Mental›Thinking | Moral›Lying | Movement›Running | Perceptual›Blurring | Perceptual›Looking | Perceptual›Sensing | Perceptual›Smelling | Physical›Pursuit | Physical›Starting over | Physical›Touching | Play›Playing in water | Verbal›Conversation | Verbal›Questioning | Verbal›Threat
Cultural Issues: Clothes›Shoes | Clothes›Skirt | Clothes›Wet clothes | Gender›Female body | Sexuality›Desire | Sexuality›Experience | Sexuality›First sexual encounter or experience | Sexuality›Sensuality | Sexuality›Sex and death | Sexuality›Virginity
Themes and Motifs: Animals›Horses | Animals›Insects crickets | Body›Eyes | Body›Hand / Palm | Body›Hips | Body›Knee | Character›Impotence | Futility›Failure to defend honor | Morals›Honor | Objects›Fence | Objects›Willow tree | Objects›knife | Psychological›Obsession | Values›Honor
Relationships: Familial›Brother-sister | Familial›Father-son | Hierarchical›Caretaker-mentally challenged person | Romantic›Sexual | Sexual
Aesthetics: Allusion, Biblical›Baptism | Allusion, Literary›Eliot, T. S. | Allusion, Literary›Poem "The Waste Land" | Description›Color gray | Diction›Racist term | Figures of Speech›Island of silence | Figures of Speech›Mirror | Figures of Speech›Negation | Figures of Speech›Simile | Language›Fragments | Language›no no | Narrative›Stream of consciousness narration | Symbolism›Archetype | Symbolism›Cleansing power of water | Symbolism›Sexual symbol | Typography/Orthography›Capitalization | Typography/Orthography›Dialogue with no quotation marks | Typography/Orthography›Lack of Punctuation
Themes and Motifs: Character›Impotence | Futility›Failure to defend honor | Memory›Remembering | Objects›Pistol
Relationships: Familial›Brother-sister | Social›Adversarial
Aesthetics: Language›Fragments | Narrative›Repetition | Narrative›Stream of consciousness narration
Environment: Natural›Body of water
Actions: Emotional›Cynicism | Emotional›Despair | Emotional›Sadness | Mental›Imagining | Mental›Realization | Mental›Thinking | Perceptual›Seeing | Verbal›Conversation
Cultural Issues: Religion›Divine judgment | Religion›Resurrection | Sexuality›Conception/Conceiving a child | Sexuality›Preventing or avoiding sex | Sexuality›Virginity
Themes and Motifs: Character›Impotence | Death›Bones | Death›Death by water / Drowning | Death›Suicide | Futility›Failure to defend honor | Futility›Illusion of success or victory | Meaning›Meaninglessness | Memory›Forgetting | Memory›Remembering | Morals›Honor | Objects›Flat-iron | Philosophical›Existentialism | Philosophical›Nihilism | Recurring Tropes›Door | Recurring Tropes›Father said | Recurring Tropes›Tomorrow and tomorrow | Time›Abrupt shift in time | Time›Long passage of time | Values›Honor
Relationships: Familial›Father-son | Social›Adversarial
Aesthetics: Allusion, Biblical›Judgment Day | Allusion, Biblical›New Testament Book of Revelation | Allusion, Literary›Coleridge, Samuel | Allusion, Literary›Eliot, T. S. | Allusion, Literary›Poem "Kubla Khan" | Allusion, Literary›Poem "The Waste Land" | Language›Fragments | Narrative›Foreshadowing | Narrative›Repetition | Narrative›Stream of consciousness narration | Typography/Orthography›Dialogue with no quotation marks | Typography/Orthography›Italics | Typography/Orthography›Lack of Punctuation
Environment: Atmospheric›Cold
Actions: Bodily›Insomnia | Mental›Remembering
Themes and Motifs: Character›Impotence | Futility›Failure to defend honor | Psychological›Obsession | Values›Honor